Rotary engine.



'PATENTED AUG. 21, 1906.

0. LUKER. ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 1, 1906.

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atfozmug PATBNTED AUG. 21, 1906.

0. LUKER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLIUATION FILED PERI, 1906.

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PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 21, 1906.

Application filed February 1, 1906. Serial No. 299.007.

T aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CALEB LUKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bellingham, in the county of Whatcom'and State of Washington, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to an improvement in rotary engines of the type includin an eccentrically-mounted pistonand an in ependent movable gate.

The main object of the present invention is the production of means whereby the vari ous operating parts of the engine may be adjusted to provide for speedy revolution without vibration and to take up wear, thereby tending to increase the efiiciency and life of inafter described. Each the engine.

The invention will be described in the following specification, reference being had particularly to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of an engine constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same. Fi 3 is a top plan of the same. Fig. 4 is a ongitudinal section of the same. Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of the engine with the bearing removed. Fig. .6 is an elevation of one of the heads. Fig. 7 is a plan of the piston.

Referring to the drawings, my improved engine is supported upon spaced elongated bed-plates 1, of any desired size, and com prises an open-ended cylinder 2, having diametrically opposite extensions 3 designed to overlie-and be securely bolted to the respective bed-plates, thus supporting the cylinder centrallybetween said plates and approXimately to an equal extent above and below the upper surface of the plates. On opposite sides of its longitudinal center the wall of the cylinder is provided with openings 4 and 5, respectively, threaded for the reception of pipes 6 and 7, adapted for service as inlet or exhaust pipes, in accordance with the direction of rotation of the piston. In register with the open end of these pipes the wall ofthe cylinder is recessed at 8 and 9, respectively, to provide steam-pockets, recesses eX- tending in both directions beyond the end of the pipes and terminatin adjacent the longitudinal median line of the wall, leavin at this point an enlargement 10 to provi e a fixed abutment for the engine. The abutment 10 is provided throughout its length ton 21.

with an upwardly-extending recess 11, designed to receive a suitable bar of wear-resisting material 12, which may be adjusted radially of the cylinder through the mediumof set-screws 13 to provide for taking up the wear on said bar. The cylinder is provided with duplicate heads 14, secured thereto through the medium of screws 15, the screwopening in the heads being preferably elongated, as at 16, in a manner to permit relative independent movement of the heads with relation to the cylinder in a vertical direction. Each of the heads is provided with diametrically opposite projections 17, adapted for adjustable connection with and supported upon the bed-plates 1 through the medium of set-screws 18 for a purpose hereof the heads is formed with an eccentrically-arranged opening 19 for the reception of trunnions 20, projecting from a concentrically-arranged pis- The piston is adapted for revolution within the cylinder and is of materially less diameter than the cylinder, and owing to the eccentric arrangement of the openings 19 in the heads the piston is supported eccentrically within the cylinder, being arranged so that its highest point is at all times in contact with the abutment-bar 12, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The trunnions 20 project through sleeves 22, projecting from the heads and spaced from the trunnions to receive suitable packing-rings 23, the usual gland-nuts 24 being employed to secure the desired com pression of the packing.

An adjusting-disk 25 is arranged within the cylinder, adjacent one of the heads 14, bearing between said head and the approximate face of the piston. This disk is adjustable relative to the head through the medium of set-screws 26, whereby the desired steam- "tight feed of the piston within the cylinder may be maintained by suitable adjustment of the disk.

Shafts 27 are keyed within the trunnions to operate therewith, and beyond said trunnions the shafts are supported in bearingblocks 28, provided with the usual coverblock 29 and supported in bearing-plates 30, which plates are of a length to overlie the bearingplates and adjacent the bearingblocks 28 are provided with vertically-ere tending flanges 3'1, spaced apart a greater distance than the length of the bearing-block 28,and are provided with set-screws 32 to bear-on theends of said block, whereby said ITO blocks and the other parts supported thereby may be adjusted transverse the plane of the cylinder-heads. The ends of the bearingplates overlying the bed-plates are provided with adjusting-screws 33, adapted to bear on said bearing-plates, and with a lock-screw 34, having a fixed relation to the bed-plate and extending through the bearing-plate,

ception of a gate 36, of a size to being provided therebeyond with a nut 35.

The piston is provided with a diametric-- ally-arranged slot or opening 36, extending packing-heads and the bottom wall of the recesses. Centrally of the piston and .at right an les to the length of the openin 36 the body of the piston isformed on each side of said gateway 36 with recesses 39, extending the length of the piston and in which are mounted packing-blocks 40, bearing at their proximate ends against the gate and held in steam-tight junction with said gate through the medium of springs 41, all as clearly shown in Fig. 2. c

In operation steam admitted through oneof the pipes, as 6, will bear against the exposed surface of the gate projecting beyond the .piston and cause a revolution of the.

same, said initial receiving-surface of the gate being gradually withdrawn into the piston as the latter revolves and the opposite end projected until when the piston has reached the point diametrically opposite its initial position the previously-exposed portion of the gate is wholly withdrawn within the piston and the opposite end thereof has been projected into power-receiving position. As the piston is eccentrically mounted within the cylinder, its initial movement in the rev-- olution tends to project the upper end of the gate gradually beyond the surface of the piston until it has reached its fully-projected position at a point diametrically opposite the abutment 10. The abutment 10 of course serves as a fixed wall against which the expansive force of the incoming steam is directed and beyond which it cannot travel, owing to the steam-tight contact between the end of the gate or the surface of the piston. The steam in advance of the gate in the direction of movement is of course forced by said gate throu h the exhaust-pipe, as 7, in the operation d escribed. To secure the The relative adjustment of the piston and maintain the same in steam-tight juncture with the abutment 10, the screws 18 and 15 are loosened to permit independent relative movement of the heads, after which the screws 33 are adjusted to move the bearingplates 30, and thereby the shafts 27, trunnions, piston, and heads, to secure the desired adjustment, after which the nuts 35 are tightened upon the screws 34 to hold the bearing-plates in the adjusted position and the bolts 18 and 15 tightened to fix the parts in their new positions. By this construction the relative adjustment of the parts is readily maintained and the efficiency of the engine thereby materially increased.

Though the mechanism described is particularly serviceable as a rotary engine, it is obvious that itwould be clearly advantageous in use as a vacuum-pump water-pump, or air-compressor, as the movable gate inits operations described will act effectively to drive a fluid before it, assuming the shaft 27 driven by external motive power, and will also act to exhaust the air from either of the pipes 6 and 7, according to the direction of rotation of the piston.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- 1. A11 engine comprising a cylinder pro vided with an abutment, inlet and exhaust ports communicating with the cylinder on opposite sides of the abutment, a piston eccentrically mounted within the cylinder and having a portion of its surface at all times in contact with the abutment, a gate movable transverse the piston and equal in diameter to the interior diameter of the cylinder, heads adjustably secured to the cylinder, trunnions projecting from the piston and mounted in the heads, and means for adjusting said trunnions and heads relative to the cylinder.

2. An engine comprising a cylinder provided with an abutment, inlet and exhaust ports communicating with the cylinder on opposite sides of the abutment, a piston eccentrically mounted within the cylinder and having a portion of its surface at all times in contact with the abutment, a ate movable transverse the iston and equa in diameter to the interior iameter of the cylinder, heads adjustably secured to the cylinder, trunnions projecting from the piston and mounted in the heads, shafts keyed in the trunnions, bearing-boxes for the shafts, bearing-plates for the boxes, and means for adjusting said plates relative to the cylinder.

3. An engine comprising a cylinder provided with an interior abutment, an eccentrically-mounted piston within the cylinder with a portion of its surface in contact at all times with the abutment, a gate movable transverse the piston and equal in diameter to the interior dlameter of the cylinder, heads for the cylinder and a disk located between and bearing against one of the heads and the approximate face of the piston, means for adjusting said disk relative to the piston, bearing-plates for supporting the piston, adjusting-screws passing through said plates and bearing upon the bed-plates of the engine, and means to lock said bearing-plates in adjusted position.

4. An engine comprising a cylinder pro vided With an interior abutment, an eccentrically-mounted piston Within the cylinder With a portion of its surface in contact at all times With the abutment, a gate movable transverse the piston and equal in diameter to the interior diameter of the cylinder, heads for the cylinder and a disk located between and bearing against one of the heads and the approximate face of the piston, means for adjusting said disk relative to the piston, bearing-plates for supporting the piston, adjust- 2o CALEB LUKER.

W. H. CARPENTER,

; Witnesses: I i A. Z. CARPENTER. 

